This is a coming-of-age story about a young teenager, Josef, growing up in Germany on the cusp of World War II. After his mother's death, he moves inThis is a coming-of-age story about a young teenager, Josef, growing up in Germany on the cusp of World War II. After his mother's death, he moves in with his uncle, Ernst Roehm, and Roehm's lover. With Roehm's approval, Josef travels to Berlin to shoot a Nazi propaganda film and while there meets David, the son of a Jewish doctor. A large part of the story deals with Josef's sexual awakening, and potential readers should be aware that while the scenes aren't descriptive, sex does play a very important role in the book.

I found Josef's character to be likable, though at times his lack of self-restraint bothered me. Then again, with his being only thirteen, his sexual actions with different characters were very believable, even if I personally did not condone them. I could understand his motivations, which the author made very clear, and one can see Josef's growth as the story progresses. In the beginning of the story, he speaks of how he isn't one of the Confident Boys at his school, those popular kids whose athletic prowess and swaggering confidence makes them stand out among their peers, but by the end of the book, Josef has grown into a Confident Boy of his own, with his own feelings and beliefs, and a promising future ahead.

The book is peopled with a variety of interesting characters, from Josef's surrogate family to the film's cast with whom he works. One person I wanted to like and didn't was Rudy, Roehm's young lover. I liked him at first, but as the story went on, I didn't much care for his duplicity in character. The more Josef (and thus, the reader) learned about Rudy, the less I liked him. I felt he was an opportunistic jerk who was true only to himself, and his lack of commitment to anyone else bothered me greatly. I wanted Roehm to have invested in a more sincere lover, not one whose intentions changed with the wind. By the end of the story, I felt Rudy deserved what happened to him.

Of all the characters in the book, I was most surprised that my favorite turned out to be Ernst Roehm. It's very difficult to write a fictionalized account of a historical figure, particularly one readers are predisposed not to like, given his notoriety, but Fishback did an excellent job of humanizing Roehm for me. I found myself saddened by his circumstances and, given the documented outcome of the Nazi regime, I hadn't thought it possible to make me sympathize with one of the movement's famous leaders. While I would've liked a different ending for Roehm, his downfall was imminent and well conceived within the circumstances of the story.

The book's ending seemed a little abrupt, but upon further reflection I found it believable given the fact that the main character was a young boy uninterested in politics. The sudden turn of events mirrors the confusion and fear many Germans must have felt during that volatile period in their history. I cheered Josef on at the end, knowing his future lay with the boy he loved.

The accuracy of detail brings 1933 Germany alive for the reader, and the motley crew of characters add human faces to the names we've read about in our history books. Those interested in historical fiction, particularly young adult stories or romances, will thoroughly enjoy this book as much as I did....more

This was an interesting book. Everyone's heard of or read Anne Frank's diary, but her war-time experiences are a little bit unique because her familyThis was an interesting book. Everyone's heard of or read Anne Frank's diary, but her war-time experiences are a little bit unique because her family was in hiding. In this book, four other diaries by teenagers are discussed at length, each portraying a different aspect of what it meant to be Jewish in occupied Europe during the war. Among the other diarists were families who were forced into ghetto life, or who fled the country and pretended to be Christian to escape notice, and these stories are harrowing in detail, to say the least.

I really enjoyed hearing other teenage voices from this troubling time. Though this is marketed as YA, and is written for a young/teen audience, some prior knowledge of the Holocaust would probably be best before tackling the book. A lot of what the author discusses is assumed to be already known by the reader. Still, it's a very good read and a valuable addition to Shoah literature....more

I forget how I found out about this book, but it claimed to be humorous fantasy (which is one of my all-time favorite genres) and the author died at tI forget how I found out about this book, but it claimed to be humorous fantasy (which is one of my all-time favorite genres) and the author died at the age of 23 of melanoma, just months after writing this book. So I thought hey, I’d like to give it a try.

First of all, this book is funny. It’s cute, a quick read, and a must-have for any fan of traditional/heroic fantasy. It’s very much along the lines of stories such as The Princess Bride, and the story and characters carry the book along well without being inundated with lengthy paragraphs of description (a malady from which many fantasy stories suffers).

The story starts with King Olive, whose brother poisons and imprisons him to overthrow the throne. When a message gets out that the rightful king is still alive, two unlikely heroes decide to rescue him. These heroes are Rigby Skeet, sword for hire, and his new apprentice, Sam (something or other, I forget his last name). Their adventure is fast paced and humorous, mostly due to their ineptitude at fighting.

While not one of the best stories ever written, "Swords for Hire" is a fun read that keeps you turning pages until the end. I read it in a few scant hours, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for me (because I was struggling through another book that I just simply couldn’t finish and had to put aside).

If you love traditional fantasy and like to laugh out loud while reading a good story, this book is for you....more

While waiting for a friend, I ducked into a Dollar General store just to kill some time and found this book for a dollar. I'm a sucker for fantasy, buWhile waiting for a friend, I ducked into a Dollar General store just to kill some time and found this book for a dollar. I'm a sucker for fantasy, but what really piqued my interest in this book was the phrase on the back, "the incurable Gray Death." By now you should know that I'm a big fan of diseases ~ they're one of my favorite topics to read about, and I have more books about Ebola and the plague and fictitious biohazard agents than the average person reads in a lifetime. I figured for a buck, I'd give this one a try.

I didn't realize that this was a young adult book (despite the fact that it's almost 300 pages in length). Not that that bothers me ~ one of my favorite writers, Jude Watson, writes only YA books. They're quick reads and there is a much broader spectrum of stories available for younger people now than there were when I was that age. I started reading Stephen King in the 6th grade simply because there were no horror writers for young adults (and now we have Goosebumps and all the take-offs that series spawned).

The main problem I have with young adult books, however, is that they tend to cut back on the prose to keep the story engaging to a young reader. Unfortunately, the writer in me wants that prose ~ I want to read page after page of internal dialogue, or feel the world around me through paragraphs of description. This book doesn't really give you that, and there are places where I felt that the author skimped on the writing just to squeeze as much into these 300 pages as she could without losing her readers (look at J.K. Rowling ~ she has no qualms writing 700 pages for young readers because she trusts them enough to know they'll read it if it's a good story).

This book is about two sisters, princesses of a country called Bamarre. They're as different as night and day ~ Meryl is a strong girl who dreams of becoming a warrior one day, and Addie is practically scared of her shadow. Meryl plans to find the cure for the mysterious illness known only as the Gray Death, but Addie makes her promise to stay by her side until she's married (they're barely 16, I think) because she's too afraid of living alone (in a palace full of servants, of course). Unfortunately, Meryl is the one who comes down with the disease (saw that one coming, didn't you?) and Addie decides to swallow her fears and face ogres, gryphons, and dragons to find the cure. Along the way, she falls in love with her father's sorcerer (natch) and discovers her own inner strength, yadda yadda.

Don't get me wrong ~ it was a good story. There were parts that were almost too convenient for the plot (the gifts the sorcerer gives her for the journey, the seven league boots and spyglass her mother left for her when she died, everything about the dragon and finding the cure), but if I read this when I was ten, I would have loved it completely. Now with the cynical eyes of an adult, I didn't like Addie's constant "I'm so scared of everything, woe is me!" attitude (since she's the main character and the story is told in the first person from her point of view, it's almost too much), and the whole bit between her and the sorcerer was like please. And like I said, I would've liked more of a story rather than a few deus ex machina elements tossed in to get the characters out of a jam.

Still, this wasn't enough to make me stop reading, and since it was a YA book, I finished it in a few hours. While it's not on my list of all-time favorites, it wasn't bad, and I think a younger reader would simply love it....more

I had heard this story before as an e-mail forward, so I was surprised and curious to read it in book format. I don't know how "traditional" a folktalI had heard this story before as an e-mail forward, so I was surprised and curious to read it in book format. I don't know how "traditional" a folktale this could be since it's a Christian-based story and most of our traditional folktales transcend Christianity (I know, I took a class on Folklore and Myth in college ~ I took a lot of neat classes as an English major).

In a nutshell, this is a story of three trees who desire to be used for a different (yet grand and noble) purpose, and each is used in some way to help Jesus Christ while he's alive. Now maybe I'm a cynic, but I can't help but wonder about trees who wish to be killed and made into boats or a manger or a cross. I mean, seriously, think about it for a minute. If a living creature such as a tree had hopes and desires, would it want to be killed? If I were a tree, my one desire would be to avoid the axman's blow at all cost. I'd want to grow strong and tall and big, stretch my branches out beneath the sun, grow my fruit and feel the wind through my leaves. Not get hacked down and used as mere wood.

Maybe I'm thinking into it too much. I recognize this is a feel-good type of story that gives warm fuzzies to any number of Christians out there, and it will live on indefinitely as long as there is at least one person in the world who continues to blindly forward such e-mail messages to everyone in their address book. The language is simplistic and the story's heart very easy to see, so this may appeal to young children more than tree-huggers like me....more